Conference: Between Past and Present. Continuities of Right-Wing Extremist Images of Womanhood, 15.01.2026, Potsdam

Moses Mendelssohn Zentrum für europäisch-jüdische Studien (MMZ) and Centre for Promotion of Tolerance and Holocaust Remembrance in Zagreb (Web)

Time: 15.01.2026
Venue: Potsdam
Registration by: 06.01.2026

At this international one-day conference, experts will discuss their latest research findings about the historical and current role of fascist and nationalistic-oriented women from the interwar period to the present day. In light of the shift to the right in many European countries and elsewhere, it will be shown how antifeminist politics, traditional images of womanhood and right-wing ideologies have shaped society until today. The conference is part of the international EU project “Teaching about Race and Gender Exclusion Timelines.”

Programme

11:00 Welcome speeches: Werner Treß (MMZ) and Nataša Popović (Centre for Promotion of Tolerance and Holocaust Remembrance)

Keynote: Ljiljana Radonić (Austrian Academy of Sciences): Female Perpetrators and their Antisemitic, Racist and Antiziganist Authoritarian Projections | Moderation: Martina Bitunjac (MMZ)

12:15 Panel I | Moderation: Olaf Glöckner (MMZ)

  • Esther Lehnert (Alice Salomon Univ. of Applied Sciences Berlin): Women in the Far Right: Fighting for Women’s Rights?
  • Perry Willson (Univ. of Dundee): The Political Mobilisation of Women in Fascist Italy: 1922–1943

14:30 Panel II | Moderation: Roy Knocke (Lepsiushaus Potsdam)

  • Anca Diana Axinia (Independent Scholar): Women, Gender, and Politics in the Romanian Legionary Movement
  • Martina Bitunjac (MMZ): Women, the Ustaša and the Right Movement in Croatia and in the Diaspora

15:45 Panel III | Moderation: Alexandru-Florin Platon („Alexandru Ioan Cuza“ Univ. of Iași)

  • Urszula Markowska-Manista (Univ. of Warsaw): Sensitive Knowledge and Multiple Narratives in Intertwined Contexts: Women in Poland
  • Olena Petrenko (Univ. of Bochum): Gender and Nationalism: The Role of Women in the Ukrainian Nationalist Movement

17:00 Panel IV | Moderation: Urszula Markowska-Manista (Univ. of Warsaw)

  • Julie V. Gottlieb (Univ. of Sheffield): Continuities, Changes and the (Re)presentation of Women in Extreme-Right Politics in Britain, 1923 to the Present
  • Benjamin Zachariah (Einstein Forum): Nationalism, the Volk, and Women’s ‘Agency’: The Case of India

18:00 Closing remarks

Kontakt: Martina Bitunjac, Moses Mendelssohn Zentrum für europäisch-jüdische Studien, E-Mail: mbitunja@uni-potsdam.de

Source: HSozKult